Laminate structure improves energy balance
Infinity press felts conquer the market
2015-02-13 - Some weeks ago, Voith has received the order for the 1000 Infinity press felt. The new press felt concept with a laminated structure is well received in paper industry because it provides excellent drainage and maintains resiliency throughout operation to maintain desired dewatering characteristics. Infinity press felts are currently available to all board, packaging and graphic paper grades. Over the next two years, Infinity felts for special papers, tissue and pulp will be coming onto the market.
The Infinity line has a high number of contact points in the base structure, which ensures that the pressure distribution is improved during pressing. Thus, it improves the smoothness of the paper and increases the dry solids content after the press, i.e. better paper quality and at the same time, the energy consumption is reduced. The Infinity family is a concept using different base modules to tailor dewatering performance to customer needs. The additional modules are built in to the design where, for example, faster saturation is needed, or alternatively, a higher void volume capacity.
The high dewatering capacity of Infinity felts is due to their base fabric, which has a laminate structure. It is responsible for the fabric’s outstanding elasticity. The Infinity line also impresses with its easy handling and longer steady-state performance. A paper manufacturer in Germany thus praised the easy seaming and fast startup process after a felt change. This testliner manufacturer operated several Infinity 3 S press fabrics. Their conclusion after the first trial installation was unequivocally positive: a perfect design. A Canadian board manufacturer confirmed that Infinity felts can even be installed in challenging positions. They were also impressed by its dimensional stability and good surface structure. The production site has now switched over to exclusive use of Infinity press felts.
The Infinity Advance belongs to the Infinity line as well. That felt has an additional top base designed to increase dewatering capacity, especially for heavier or quality critical board grades. A linerboard manufacturer was able to solve previous issues at a transfer position by using Infinity Advance S. Web breaks were markedly down and dewatering performance increased. The paper mill switched entirely to Infinity at this position.
Voith Product Manager Mark Lacasse sees a great future for the development of the Infinity line: “We are at the very beginning of the product life cycle with Infinity. We have gained a lot of experience meeting customers’ needs with this new product. We are pleased with these results, and will build on this experience to expand this product line to satisfy the demands of the press fabric market.”//